Preparing for the biggest move of our life

Orange_Ena

Oh that's a shame about a possible rent increase. Some landlords seem to get a bit a greedy but forget that they've got a good tenant in who could potentially be replaced with a nightmare tenant!

Enjoy your day off

bellevie

I spent my day off wrapping and wrapping and wrapping - the pro's & cons of having a birthday in the house so close to Christmas!

We had a nice weekend just gone, my ex visited (nice ex) haven't seen him in a while so it was nice to catch up.

We have more visits due this weekend for DD's birthday, no party with friends this year, but her 3 cousins will be here so we will still have a houseful of little people!

Tree was put up early in the end as in before DD's birthday after she pestered for days on end.

Christmas....we are ready for you!

Tinkerbelle2000

Hi Bellevie. Hope things are ok with you. I have just caught up with your diary and I'm amazed at how strong and organised you are with all you have been through.

It must be DD's birthday soon, or maybe its past. Hope she has/had a lovely time and enjoys her gifts.

I recently purchased YNAB but haven't got round to setting it up properly. I might just have a look tomorrow.

Take care.

Tink xx

bellevie

Thank you Tink - and of course likewise, you are showing tremendous strength right now and I just know happy times are round the corner for you!

DD had a brilliant birthday thank you

x

bellevie

Met landlord, definite taking on property himself effective from Decembers pay, and rent has increased as of January - almost a 5 % rise.

He did ask me what I thought and of course I said its higher than I was expecting, but no movement

I will re - sign for one year, then review. I am on a 3 year plan, I want to be ready to go by March 2019 a realistic time frame to save a reasonable deposit for shared ownership. Moving in a year would take money from my moving fund but if Im left to the point that I can not save a penny then I will have to seriously consider.

Last day of term tomorrow, I have a day off so can spend some time getting food shop done as I know next week will be far too busy for us! In for 3 days next week, 2 days the following week then back to normal after new year.

Going so spend some time going through my accounts and budgets over the time off see if I can regain some sense of control.

I have treated myself to a now TV box for Christmas. I got one for DD as her room has no signal - buys me an extra 30 minutes lay in on a Saturday morning! I didn't know that one subscription can be used in different rooms, so I will connect my box to the account.
With the 3 month pass on DD's box, and 6 month pass on mine the £6.99 charge wont kick in until August / September. If I need to I can cancel the subscription and just use the boxes for catch up TV - DD will still get cbeebies which is her favourite (still!)
My box hasn't arrived yet, but it will of course go under the tree until Christmas.
My other self bought surprises are a watch - mine snapped when it caught on a door handle the other week, a diary - I love a good diary and a box of chocs!

DD doesn't know that I know of course and she has dutifully stuffed them into a bag on instruction from Santa and covered in paper so that I can't peek!

Im looking forward to some quality time before the daily grind restarts in Jan!

Tinkerbelle2000

Oh Bellieve, I remember sorting presents for myself so well. I remember once a few years ago giving DD £5 in Wilk0s so that she could buy me something that would be a surprise. She kept shouting from the next aisle for me to add up prices for her. I loved the reactions she got from the shoppers and the staff, it was sooo cute.

Tink xx

MuffinTops

Hello bellevie,
I appear to have neglected your diary recently, I'm so sorry. I've been reading, but haven't added any replies!

You're doing so well. It's such a shame you're having a 5% rent increase hit. That's got to be a significant amount. It does seem to be a renter's heaven out there though.

Your Christmas surprises sound lovely. It's nice to hear you can give yourself little treats. I love diaries too! I've been keeping one recently as my head goes off in so many directions that I now need somewhere to keep it all written down. I love this forum, but feel I brain dump enough without adding more! Also, because I love emoticons, I also bought some cheap stickers from a Hong Kong seller on eBay to brighten my little diary up! Plus, little organiser tabs for those pages I write "refer back" information in.

I hope you've had a lovely week.

MTxx

AspiringButAnxious

I bought myself a diary last week! It's a page a day one that I will use to track my progress towards my goals. I'm tempted to wrap it up as a present from my dog, but quite like looking at it...

At least you will get plenty of surprises when dd is older — as well as buying my mum a present from me, I often act as elf for my dad! Lol! I know what she likes, which is a huge advantage of having a daughter I got the perfume she's wanted for the past few years; the make members of my family had no idea what perfume she likes, despite her mentioning it several times a year...

bellevie

Not at all MT - My performance on here hasn't been brilliant to be fair. I rarely feel like updating my own diary recently!
I still have catching up to do on nearly all of the diaries I have subscribed to, hoping to do that over the Christmas break.

I have so much more to write but I can barely keep my eyes open - I think an early night is needed for me!

MuffinTops

You're definitely sounding like life is hitting you a little and although you're hitting back maybe you're better off catching up with some sleep and recharging your poor worn batteries.

I'm upset that your rent is increasing. As soon as you think you're on a steady path, something else comes up to wobble things around again.

I hope you're doing ok. No worries on catching up on my diary. It's only my brain dumps on there! You concentrate on taking care of you and the little one.